The Effects of Mandatory Time Limits in the Voting Booth on Liberal‐conservative Voting Patterns

Abstract

One hundred and forty college students, in either (a) 2‐minute time‐limit or (b) a no‐time‐limit condition, voted their conscience on actual pending legislation in their state in a test of hypothesis that such time limits in the voting booth created a stimulus overload situation. Such a situation was expected to result in dysfunctional adaptation responses, with unintended effects on voting patterns. Results indicated that subjects in the time stress condition voted significantly more conservatively on these issues. This conservative shift is interpreted as a function of overload, with serious political implications for urban planners, whose response to increasing population density often has been to increase the tempo by which citizens are processed through the cities’institutional and social services.